Category Archives: Activism

57 year overdue house cleaning —Barbara Stratton

Received today on Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law. -jsq
The 1926 statute that needs to be removed is OCGA 20-2-370. The 1983 constitutional law had priority of law precedence over the older statute & CUEE was advised before they asked for signatures it could be protested on those grounds before or after the vote. Thankfully we did not have to go that route. I remember in high school I did a project on outdated laws still in the GA Constitution including mandatory hanging for horse theft (which I liked). There was also a law if you hit & killed a cow or pig on the road you were required to get out & slit the throat so the owner could salvage the meat & many others that were outdated & no longer enforced. I trust these have now been removed. The general assembly should be thankful that we are addressing this 57 year overdue need for house cleaning & remedy this in January. Rule of Law should never remain questionable when it is the duty of our lawmakers to provide clarity.

-Barbara Stratton

According to Justia.com:

2010 Georgia Code
TITLE 20 – EDUCATION
CHAPTER 2 – ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
ARTICLE 8 – CONSOLIDATION OF INDEPENDENT AND COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEMS
§ 20-2-370 – Referendum on repeal of special school law and consolidation of systems


O.C.G.A. 20-2-370 (2010)
20-2-370. Referendum on repeal of special school law and consolidation of systems

Whenever the citizens of a municipality or independent school district authorized by law to establish and maintain a system of schools by local taxation in whole or in part are operating a system of public schools independent of the county school system and wish to annul their special school law and become a part of the county school system, they shall present and file with the governing authority of the city a petition signed by one-fourth of the qualified voters of their territory; and the governing authority shall then submit the question at an election to be held in accordance with Chapter 2 of Title 21. A majority of those voting shall be necessary to carry the election. Only qualified voters residing within the municipality or district for six months prior to the election shall vote. An election shall not be held for the same purpose more often than every 12 months.

Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. Georgia may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.

Citizens at Lowndes County Commission 7 November 2011

Five citizens spoke up at the 7 November 2011 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. Some got answers, some got excuses, and some got fingerpointing. And one illustrated how the Commission doesn’t follow its own rules.

  • George Boston Rhynes asked about Open record requests and jail deaths and got the same excuses he’s heard elsewhere: nobody seems to be responsible for supplying information to the public about what’s going on in the Lowndes County Jail.

  • John Robinson asked about Contracts on the south side related to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and to Title III Section 3 of the HUD program and got a clarification from the Chairman that the county has no Title III projects.

  • John S. Quarterman asked the Commission to video meetings like the Lowndes Board of Education does, and got a slightly different excuse this time than the many previous times he’s made similar requests.

  • Matt Portwood asked the Commission or the individual Commissioners to state a position on school consolidation and was told they weren’t going to. The VDT printed that much the next morning, the morning of the election with the referendum on school consolidation. They did not print Chairman Paulk’s allusion to his already-known support for FVCS in opposing consolidation, but LAKE published a video with that on Election Day, and you can see it here.

  • Tony Daniels wanted to know How can we pursue happiness when we don’t even have a job? and had several recommendations for how the various local elected and appointed bodies could go about getting us more jobs. He also illustrated that the Commissions ordinance on Citizens Wishing to Be Heard is, as we’ve discovered on many previous occasions, merely guidelines at the whim of the Chairman.

Citizen participation!

-jsq

Only a vote where both city and county residents could take part would reveal the will of the people —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law. -jsq
While I live in the city as was able to vote on the consolidation issue, I feel that only a vote where both city and county residents would be democratic. Only a vote where both interested parties could take part would reveal the will of the people and be admissible. Although I opposed the effort to consolidate that was recently defeated, I feel strongly that a true vote of both city and county residence is necessary if consolidation should reach the ballot anytime in the future. For this reason it is paramount that the old law that allowed the city only vote be stricken to allow the georgia constitution to prevail. The GA constitution allows for both city and county to vote and a majority in both in order to pass.

Please contact your legislator to support repealing the 1928 law from the GA law books.

Thank you ALL for your commitment to community,

-Karen Noll

Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law

Received today. -jsq
From: JC Cunningham
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:01:26 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Fw: The Repeal of Ga. Law on School Consolidation
To: [many people]

Friends,

Even though we the Citizens of Valdosta have spoken and defeated that hostile takeover, this is not the time to let up. We all must stay a vigilant as possible and never let anything like this happen again.

One way in which everyone in Valdosta and Lowndes can make a impact is to write a letter to Amy Carter, Admin. Floor Leader to the Governor, and ask for her to introduce a bill to repeal the old 1928 law that Cuee was able to use.

Remind Amy that she has an obligation to bring this bill to the floor. Remind her that the people

Continue reading →

Occupying outside CCA’s Stewart Detention Center, Lumpkin, GA 18 November 2011

Want to do something to oppose privatization of prisons, but can’t be everywhere? You can help online Friday.

Immigrants For Sale posted Join The Virtual Vigil and Occupation Shut Down Stewart

On November 18th Brave New Foundation’s Cuéntame and a coalition of organizations along with families and friends of victims of for-profit detention will be occupying with a powerful vigil the outside of the largest private detention facility in the nation – Corrections Corporation of America’s Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. You can join them virtually — your voice is our most important tool in fighting back — by leaving your own name and a powerful message which will be read and/or written on a wall at the event & in memory of:

Follow the link for details.

Oh, and we don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. Spend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education instead.

PS: Owed to Cheryl Ann Fillekes.

How can we pursue happiness when we don’t even have a job? —Tony Daniels @ LCC 7 November 2011

George Rhynes’ video of the last two citizens speaking at the 7 November 2011 County Commission meeting has interesting closeups on the county staff while the Chairman was answering Matt Portwood. Then at 1:35 Tony Daniels answered the request for “any other business” by walking up to the podium and talking.

He cited life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from the Declaration of Independence:

How can we pursue happiness when we don’t even have a job? I believe the city and county and Industrial Authority and the Chamber of Commerce need to work more together to create an atmosphere of trying to bring more industry inside the city. We have highways coming through Valdosta. I hope to see in the near future that the county and the city and the Industrial Authority and the Chamber of Commerce work like brothers and sisters. Because you know and I know that you are elected by the people of the people and for the people, and I’d like to see that…. Because we need more entrepeneurs, we need to see all governments in this area promote that….
I suspect the Chairman was asking the Commissioners whether they had any other business, but he wasn’t clear about that. I think what Tony Daniels had to say was important, and citizens should be able to say they have other business. However, since he had not signed up to speak before the meeting started, he was in violation of Rule #1 from the Commission’s hastilly adopted Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be Heard:: Continue reading →

Video meetings like Lowndes Board of Education? —John S. Quarterman @ LCC 7 November 2011

After apologizing for setting off a flash earlier, I recommended the county video their own meetings, so they wouldn’t have to depend on amateurs.
Lowndes County Board of Education had an open forum about school consolidation. and they had their own person videoing the whole thing, and it ended up on the web in a day or two, which means that everyone in the county could see what was going on….
Chairman Paulk:
We get enough of that for free.

jsq:

I’ll send you a bill!
The Chairman nodded, so I’ll take that for approval of billing by LAKE.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Cobb EMC incumbent concedes election: insurgents win 4 for 4

Last week, 3 out of 4 insurgent candidates won places on the board of Cobb EMC, the utility that wants to build a coal plant in Ben Hill County, as close to here for smoke drift as the Okefenokee. Another was headed to a runoff that would have cost around $70,000. Not anymore! It’s 4 for 4.

Janel Davis wrote for the AJC yesterday, Cobb EMC incumbent concedes election,

Kennesaw businessman and incumbent Cobb EMC director RJ Patel conceded the race for his board seat Monday evening eliminating a need for a runoff next month and advancing four new members to lead the utility.
That means Charles Malcolm ‘Cooter’ Swanson is the new Area 7 board member.

The new members are still a minority of 4 out of 10 on the Cobb EMC board, but that’s better than 0 out of 10.

-jsq

PS: Owed to Ellen Corrie and No Coal Plant in Ben Hill County!

FVCS community event 5:30 PM 15 November 2011 @ MLK Monument

Received today (this is the event Sam Allen mentioned in his speech on Valdosta City Hall steps last Wednesday). -jsq
Friends,

We must bring healing and closure to the consolidation saga. As a means to reuniting our community the FVCS has planned one last event designed to bring EVERYONE together for some good fun and relaxation. Please come out and join us, bring the kids and your friends as we close this chapter and begin anew. I pray that we can move forward and enjoy the true meaning of the upcoming holidays with love and forgiveness in our hearts. Remember: Don’t worry about me because I’m be alright.

Thanks for everything,
Sam Allen
Details: Continue reading →

Contracts on the south side —John Robinson @ LCC 7 November 2011

John Robinson addressed the Lowndes County Commission about Title III Section 3 of the HUD program, also Title VI of the Civil Rights Act:
No person in the United States on the grounds of race or color or national origin shall be excluded….
He said he has filed a federal complaint against the city of Valdosta, and he wants the County Commission to know that.
….scrutinized for these special groups of people, people of power, instead of the people that’s needing the money.

Chairman Paulk clarified that the Martin Luther King project is totally a city project, and that the county has no Title III projects.

Here’s the video:



Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 November 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq